


Nightmare

by supernaturallylost



Series: Mental Health [6]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Anxiety, Depression, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff and Angst, M/M, Sam comforts him, gabriel has a nightmare
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-26
Updated: 2015-04-26
Packaged: 2018-03-25 22:42:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 536
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3827680
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/supernaturallylost/pseuds/supernaturallylost
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sometimes it's not about getting over it. It's about distractions.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Nightmare

Gabriel was sweating through the sheets as he turned uneasily in his sleep.

With his fingers pinching the bridge of his nose and his elbows resting on his knees, Sam leaned forward in his chair. He’d teased Gabe for an entire week for insisting that they have a chair beside the bed.

“The bedroom is for sleeping in,” he’d joked, “and doing other athletic activities. Sitting doesn’t come into it at all.”

“It looks nice,” Gabriel argued. “Besides, it’s nice to have a chair in every room of the house, just in case.”

Now, Sam understood the comfort of knowing he could give Gabriel space without leaving his side. He rocked a little bit on the seat of the chair as he rubbed his hands over his face to wipe away the worry and tiredness. With darkened circles under his eyes, Sam watched Gabe whine and claw at the sheets.

Sam waited patiently. He knew that Gabriel would wake up soon. When Gabe’s breathing became shallow, Sam looked up in time to see a tear fall out of Gabe’s scrunched eyes.

When he woke from the nightmare, he didn’t scream. He didn’t sit bolt upright and breathe heavily. He didn’t shake in fear. When Gabe woke up, he remained still on his side, tears falling from his eyes, his mouth slightly open. He let out one long breath and then struggled to breathe. He stared at the wall as he tried to ignore the last images of pain as they faded from his consciousness.

Sam waited still. Gabe tried to breathe, tried to blink, tried to move his weighted arms. He tried to come back to his body, to ground himself.

Eventually, his breathing steadied and his eyes were able to focus. They saw the legs of a chair. They saw Sam.

“Gabe,” Sam whispered. In the past, Gabriel had explained that sometimes such simple things as saying his name could help to ground him. Since then, Sam tried to toss his name out every once in a while to keep the dysphoria at bay. “It’s okay, Gabriel.”

“It was blank,” Gabe whimpered brokenly. He clenched his hands and tried to feel the sheets in his grip. “The room was empty and quiet, and the painting was blank.”

“I know,” Sam answered. He reached over, still sitting in the chair, and placed his hands on Gabe’s. “It’s okay, baby. You’re okay.”

“I hate it,” Gabe said. “There’s no color, no water, no air. It’s drowning me and suffocating me and I want it to stop.”

“It’s okay,” Sam answered again. “You’re going to be okay. It passes. Let it come and go. The more you worry about it, the harder it is to take away.”

Gabriel closed his eyes and felt the tears drop down his cheek.

“You’re okay, baby. Do you want me to run a bath for you?”

After a second, Gabe nodded.

When the bath was ready, Sam clutched Gabe in his arms and let him rest against him before he was set down in the warm water. Sam sat next to the bathtub and gently stroked Gabe’s temple.

“I love you, Gabriel,” he whispered.

Gabe closed his eyes.

“I love you, too.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading. If you feel anxious or depressed, try distracting yourself by taking a bath or playing a game. I have coloring books for when I get depressed. Then life doesn't seem so "blank", as Gabriel says.


End file.
